KIRKUS REVIEW

Passengers
on a bicycle-built-for-many get more than they bargained for.

Today’s
the Annual Tour de Tip-Top (read: bike ride), and the animals can’t wait. Fox? Not
so much; yawn. To him, the same route, slow pace, and scenery that riders enjoy
every year are too humdrum, though snacks are involved. This time he wants
danger and thrills besides. While his friends tend to assigned chores, Fox, in
charge of bikes, assembles a cleverly souped-up vehicle with multiple seats—but
forgets the brakes. Oops. (Good thing they’re wearing helmets.) This glitch
causes Fox and his cohorts to careen crazily up, down, and all around, the mad
scramble compounded by airplane wings and a rudder that emerge on the bike at
the push of Fox’s button. Afterward, the incredulous animals marvel at their
adventure and settle in for snack time, except for Fox. But did he really
forget those brakes? Readers noticing Fox’s knowing wink as he looks straight
out at them will believe otherwise. As he did in his debut about this crafty
trickster (Fox and the Jumping Contest, 2016), Tabor creates riotously lively, digitally
assembled scenes with pencils, watercolor, and ink to accompany a satisfying,
comical tale in which Fox’s wild scheme turns out well—sort of: in the final
illustration, as the other riders doze, contented and sated, Fox is shown
searching for something new.

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